Photo by Maggie Pope
Lunchtime downtown is like high school: The bell rings, and you've got minutes to find your room. The rank and file immediately hit the canteens, but ducking into Tenka Ramen feels like a Japanese nightclub. Inside the dim room, walls are papered with metal and brightened by posters for Japanese beer and movies, reminding me of a mom-and-pop noodle hut, one that ditches cocktails for draft Sapporo and canned sake.
Authentic ramen isn’t dried hanks of noodles with a flavor packet, but springy threads sunk in a nuanced broth garnished with hard-boiled egg, pork slices and crisp veggies. Tenka’s menu is the latter, and it might just be the city’s best. The pork and chicken broths are house-made and often served together, hemming the surface with fatty flavor gems. Instant broth won't have those jewels. But it's the tiny abrasions on the noodles and al dente tension that highlight Tenka’s extra-credit work: six months of recipe development with Sun Noodles, the company that makes them to the restaurant’s specs.
Bowls I’ll repeat are the Tenka (chashu pork, scallion, sprouts and hard-boiled egg) and Shoyu (soy sauce). When I’m chilly, the Spicy Ramen spikes my temperature. Miso Ramen, with tangy, house-made miso paste, merits ordering a second round of noodles to finish the broth.
Appetizers aren’t at AP level. Rubbery pork buns indicate food-service bao, though their teriyaki pork filling is flavorful. The sweetcorn has a waxy texture and is too bland for my taste, but the fried Japanese horse mackerel makes a good bar nibble, cutting through the higher-proof, melon-y Kikusui Funaguchi Black sake; an A+ combination in my book.
2 1/2 out of 4 forks
110 N. Fifth St.
447-6190
Hours: Monday to Friday: noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.;Sunday: noon to 3 p.m.
Prices: $3 to $11
